Morning Comrades,
We will be returning to the subject of war, once again, in today’s dispatch as my little rant on Monday brought me back to a few pieces we had discussed over the years. Whilst todays subject is historical in its form the far important lessons to draw from it are incredibly applicable today, and hopefully will help bring the capitalist war narrative to a halt.
Alexandra Kollontai's essay, "Who Needs the War?" serves as a poignant exploration of the underlying motives behind modern wars. The central argument posits that these conflicts are orchestrated by the imperialist capitalist class against the world's workers, constituting a grave crime against humanity.
Considering who always has bears the brunt of any war, you and me, who in their right mind ( I know, that in itself is presuming much of late ) would want that. In any case, Kollontai rightly and clearly wrote over a hundred years ago that:
“Our main and common enemy is at our rear. Let us turn our rifles and guns against our real, our common enemies… And then all our brave commanders, field marshals and generals will take to their heels!... Let us each go to war in our own country against our oppressors, let us cleanse our homelands from the real oppressors, let us cleanse our homelands from the real enemies of the people, from the tsars, kings and emperors! And when power is in our hands, we will conclude our own peace over the heads of the defeated capitalists… This is the way forward for those who wish to fight for a stable peace among the nations, for the victory of the workers” cause, for the replacement of capitalist society by a just and better word based on the socialist brotherhood of the workers of every country.”
With that, let’s dig into how this work, her insight and conclusions are vital to us today.
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